By Justine Apostolopoulos

VANCOUVER — Frontman Paul McKenzie has the kind of drive and passion that builds legends. He quit high school at age 17 to tour across Canada with his then band TT Racer, leaving his Catholic upbringing in a cloud of dust.

“My parents had said ‘If you go on this tour, don’t bother coming back!’ so I didn’t,” says McKenzie, who went on to spearhead a wave of Celtic punk music that’s taken him “easily one million miles” on the road so far.

The Real McKenzies are celebrating 25 years of ripping bagpipes and electric guitar fueled Scot-rock this spring. In March, they release their tenth studio album, Two Devils Will Talk, which McKenzie describes as an arsenal of Dan Garrison’s (McKenzie guitarist since 2015) songs. “Dan brought the idea of the album to me and I was right on board,” he says, looking forward to performing the new record of anthem-inspiring songs. “I love the adrenaline rush of performing and connecting with the audience. The times when the audience knows the lyrics better than I do, those are proud moments. It’s all about the collective positive energy.”

The current line-up of the band has two electric guitars and three bagpipes, which exceeds the limits of what any practicing Celt-punk lover reasonably hopes for, including Paul McKenzie: the one consistent member of the band since its inception in 1992. He states in his straight-forward and jovial manner, “Although I’ve broken 100 men over 25 years with the McKenzies, there’s no doubt in my mind that the group of men we have in this line-up are the most honorable, talented, and attentive group of men I could have the honor of sharing the stage with. I look forward to many more years of excellent rock and roll and turning on 10,000 more people.”

In his time off, McKenzie is usually in his hometown of Vancouver with his family, sailing the waters of the B.C. coast and making no plans whatsoever for retirement. There’s no book on the horizon, but six more months of touring with the band coming up this year, promoting the new record across North America and Europe.

You can catch the Real McKenzies at The Rickshaw Theatre (Vancouver) March 4, Dickens (Calgary) March 17, the Starlite Room (Edmonton) March 18, the Exchange (Regina) March 22 and Windsor Hotel (Winnipeg) March 23.

By Julijana Capone

Satisfied Life Prints is trying to fill a void in the Winnipeg silk-screening market with affordable services—including trades.Photo: Adara Moreau

WINNIPEG — “We’re punks printing for punks, but I wouldn’t put that on a banner or anything,” says Laura Rewucki, one half of Satisfied Life Prints, a silk-screening company that prides itself on its DIY ethics and basement origins.

Since setting up shop in 2015, Rewucki (full disclosure: my sister) and her partner, Joey Belanger (also of punk bands Denial // Error and Sniff), have focused their business around tour merch, show posters, and the odd tie-dyed band bootleg. (We’ll refrain from noting which bands to prevent them from getting sued.)

“We set ourselves apart in that we offer equitable services for people like us—musicians, artists, and creatives that don’t have a lot of money,” says Rewucki. “We’re not trying to get rich off of this, and we know what it’s like to be broke.” A testament to that creed is the fact that Satisfied Life is open to smaller runs and, on occasion, bartering.

Photo: Adara Moreau

“I’ve done smaller runs of 12 and taken trades of tapes and records for shirts,” says Belanger. “I think people like that…I remember being in bands and not being able to find anyone that was reasonable enough to print shirts through, so we’d always have to print them in the States and get them shipped to Winnipeg. That’s another reason why we got into this. It’s hard for a lot of the smaller music communities to get their shirts printed, because they can’t afford it.”

And the pair knows the community they’re operating in, working with wares like a producer works with a recording, with a careful understanding of when something needs to be rough and when it needs to be polished. “I think some shirts need to look kind of bad,” Belanger says. “But in a good way. Attention to detail and a sense of style are important in screen printing.”

In the past year or so, Satisfied Life has printed merch for Winnipeg shop/label Eat ‘Em Up Records, and groups including Genex, Whip, Human Music, Infector, Withdrawal, Karoshi, and REALiTY GROUP, along with a special 40th anniversary T-shirt for ‘70s classic rockers Harlequin (lead vocalist George Belanger is Joey’s dad, by the way).

Photo: Adara Moreau

They’re happy to print most things, for that matter—even your wedding invitations. “We did wedding invites for our friends Ferro and Stib from Whip,” says Rewucki. “We don’t ordinarily do that, but it was an interesting challenge.”

All things considered, they seem to have been up for the task from the start, making t-shirts using a DIY method they say they wouldn’t recommend to anyone, before upgrading to a professional set-up.

“We used to dry shirts in our oven,” says Rewucki. “But we had to be super careful not to burn them or light them on fire. It was a pretty crazy time, but we made it work. From the beginning, this project has just been a lot of trying, failing, and figuring it out.”

Photo: Adara Moreau

While Satisfied Life Prints was born out of a desire to fill a void in the silk-screening market in the Prairies, it was also intended to fill a void in the pair’s creative lives.

“I’ve always had jobs where I would have to cover my tattoos, and conform to the stranglehold of corporate culture,” says Rewucki. “I wanted to have a job where I had some creative control and could dress however I want, and in the end got what I put into it. That’s more of the seed of it than anything.”

For more information about Satisfied Life Prints, head to satisfiedlifeprints.com. You can also find many of their punk and metal shirts at Music Trader and Eat ‘Em Up Records in Winnipeg or at a merch table near you.

By Nieva Burns

While drummer Aaron Solowoniuk will be kept off the tour due to a battle with MS, he’s still very much a part of the band.Photo: Courtesy of Warner

VANCOUVER — It’s pretty hard to believe Billy Talent has been around for 23 years. It probably makes the fans who’ve been around since 2001’s “Try Honesty” feel old. But when BeatRoute caught up with Ian D’Sa, lead guitarist, backup vocalist, songwriter and producer for the band’s newest album Afraid of Heights, it’s obvious that this is a band that’s only getting wiser with age.

Afraid of Heights has been hailed as a return to the original Billy Talent sound after a minor stray with Dead Silence. “As a band, we’ve definitely developed our own sound over the years, and when you really have a strong sense of that identity, it is a little bit easier to go in and know what the drums should sound like or the guitar should sound like, and it gets easier as you get older,” D’Sa says.

He discusses the long process of putting together the new album, recalling “we had put out a greatest hits record, so there was almost a four-year gap [between Dead Silence and Afraid of Heights].”

A lot has happened in those four years, some of it scary, hence the name of the album. “Things change in your life and in the world as you’re working on something […] This album was definitely affected by things going on, everything from Brexit to what is going on with Trump right now made its way lyrically to this record.”

Afraid of Heights reflects on mature ideas, says D’Sa: “It really is a metaphor for us as humans — being afraid of progress and change and doing the right thing. The way I look at it is when (you are) younger, you care about those things and you feel those things but you’re kind of in your own little bubble …then as you get older you start seeing the impact of these things globally.”

The album also touches on fear of commitment. When asked if it’s scary being in a band for so long, D’Sa laughs, “it’s kind of like a marriage…The four of us for 23 years now. That’s longer than a lot of marriages. It is a commitment and you do have to sacrifice a lot to do this for a living.”

The band has their roots in Pezz, which was founded in 1993 with the same four original members, Ian D’Sa, Ben Kowalewicz (vocals), Jon Gallant (bass) and Aaron Solowoniuk (drums). Afraid of Heights is the first tour and album without drummer Aaron, however he’s been able to stay involved in the process despite the shocking news in 2016 that his battle with multiple sclerosis (MS) was going to keep him off the drum kits and the tour. Jordan Hastings from Alexisonfire was hand-picked to play instead.

“We may not have had 23 years with him but we love him the same and he’s a part of a band…that we consider brothers. It was a hard shoe to fill for Jordan, but at the same time it’s incredible that he’s doing this and he’s incredibly sensitive to Aaron’s situation as well.”

Solowoniuk was still heavily involved in Afraid of Heights, “When we were making our record he was around.” Aaron also directed the “Louder Than The DJ” music video, a popular song off the new record that pokes fun at the rise in electronic music and the aging rock scene.

D’Sa comments, “the video turned out amazing and he had a lot to do with that. It’s always great having him around.”

Billy Talent fans have a lot to look forward to on this tour. “We’ve been using a big set piece and production which we’ve never really done before.” The set will feature design elements from the album cover, drawn by comic book animator Igor Hofbaue. D’Sa, who used to have a career in animation and enjoys choosing artwork for the albums, expresses, “I love being able to find a style that will match the music …It’s kind of got an old Eastern European propaganda style to it, which I love.”

This will be Billy Talent’s first big Canadian tour since Dead Silence. They just returned from a European tour, “we were pretty much all over Europe, we did a big tour in Germany and Austria and Switzerland and before that we were in U.K. for a month.” Billy Talent has a huge fan base in these countries, as well as in Canada where they sold 53,000 copies of Afraid of Heights in the first week.

“We have an idea of what really works well and what doesn’t work well. This album we still want to push the envelope lyrically and musically, but we have an idea of what we’re really good at and what our limitations are as well. But I think probably that just comes with age.”

Billy Talent perform at the Abbotsford Centre in (you guessed it) Abbotsford on February 16th, the Grey Eagle Event Centre in Calgary on the 18th, the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton on the 21st, the Brandt Centre in Regina on the 22nd and the MTS Centre in Winnipeg on the 23rd. More Canadian dates can be found online.

WINNIPEG — “When it gets really cold in Winnipeg, instead of complaining about the weather, we just throw a party,” says Julien Desaulniers, artistic producer for the Festival du Voyageur, touted as Western Canada’s largest winter festival.

Not your usual winter fete, this celebration is specifically rooted in French-Canadian and Métis culture, while also conjuring the spirit of the voyageurs that paddled their canoes along the banks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers around the 18th and 19th centuries. Indeed, the “joie de vivre” or love of life—despite hardship—of those burly travellers can still be felt in the fortitude of Winnipeg’s citizens even today.

For 10 days over February, Winnipeggers don their moccasins, toques and ceinture fléchées and get down like it’s 1815. “When you walk into Festival, you smell the wood chips on the ground, you’re eating the maple taffy, listening to a seven-piece traditional band from Quebec, like Le Bal à l’huile, and you’re like, ‘This is it. This is the voyageur…I’m in 1815.’”

Sound a little out of your millennium? It’s not, really. Especially when it comes to the cornucopia of music.

Over 170 acts from across the country will grace stages at Voyageur Park and venues in and around St. Boniface (Winnipeg’s French borough), including quirky Regina singer-songwriter Étienne Fletcher, folk-rocker Mélanie Brulée and veteran Acadian party-starter Danny Boudreau, as well as Montreal-based sister duo Les sœurs Boulay, dance-pop chanteuse Laurence Nerbonne, and pop-rock par excellence from Alexandre Désilets.

“We love to represent la Francophonie across Canada,” says Desaulniers. “We always take care to hire Francophone bands from Western Canada, Ontario, and Acadian and Quebec bands. We want to show the diversity of Francophones in Canada.”

Over at the Discothèque on Ice (a.k.a. the frozen river trail), a selection of crate-diggers, such as DJ Kasm, DJ BEEKEENI and Cedrik Le Fantastik, will spin their fave French tunes from Gainsbourg to Daft Punk.

Even non-French acts, spanning just about every musical appetite, are on the bill—from gloomy darkwave courtesy of Ghost Twin to surf-rock from The Catamounts and heartstring-pulling pop via Calgary’s MBF (a.k.a. Michael Bernard Fitzgerald). Plus, tons more.

And being the inclusive event that it is, the festival will be adding a Winter Pride Celebration for Winnipeg’s LGBTQ community to its 2017 programming. “It’s time,” says Desaulniers. “We’ve been around for 48 years and we want to be as inclusive as possible…It’s gonna be one hell of a party.”

Aside from honouring the jovial ways of the voyageur, the festival is, in many ways, a celebration of coming together as a community—served in the language of love. “I like to think of myself as a product of Festival du Voyageur, because my birthday is in November, which is exactly nine months after the festival in February,” says Desaulniers, with a laugh. “I like to think that the festival had something to do with that.”

Festival du Voyageur runs February 17-26. For more information on the festival, full lineup details, and ticket prices, head tofestivalvoyageur.mb.ca.

By Danni Bauer

CALGARY — If you ever have a chance to speak with Benjamin Francis Leftwich (BFL) at his show, take the chance, even if you are too shy, to say hi. He is an extraordinary human being. Last time we spoke to BFL in 2013 he had to cancel part of his American tour after his father, Adrian Leftwich, was diagnosed with lung cancer. He returned home to be with his Dad. In April 2013, Benjamin’s number one friend and inspiration, passed away. There is a certain expectation we have when we lose someone, that, one day, everything will fall back into place when you are fully healed. Thing is, you never fully heal, it changes you, and you learn to live with the loss. At 23, he did the only thing he thought would help him grieve. He disappeared from music, into his father’s old home in York, England.

He resurfaced in February 2016 with a post explaining his absence for the last few years, in it he wrote, “Everyone deals with loss is their own way and each way is valid and beautiful. I was broken for a while but putting what I wanted into songs has helped carry me back into the world.” Those songs would become his follow-up album to Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm entitled After the Rain, seems fitting after all that he had gone through over the three-year period. The post created an outpour of love and support from fans, sharing their sympathy and stories of their loss of loved ones. There are 364 heartwarming posts from fans, and there was Benjamin with a heartfelt thank you in response to each and every one. That is the key here; he is a genuine individual so this kind of act comes very natural for him. He cares deeply for people and what they are going through, and his fans feel that from him; it makes him relatable, trusting and comforting, and that translates into his music:“I hear those kinds of compliments from people a lot, and it means the world to me. It means more than any kind of physical or commercial success. It’s a really special thing to be a part of, and I am really aware of that. Some of these things, these stories that I have heard from people are so deep that I could never repeat to anyone. Some are so deep in detail. It would just not be right. I am very humbled that my music has helped people through the worst and hardest thing people can go through.”

His live shows feel as though you’re hanging out with a friend. He creates the same connection with his audience as he does with everyone he talks to. “I know that you all hear this all the time, but I fucking love Canada, I really do,” he said between songs at Communitea Cafe in Canmore on Wednesday night. He’s charming, captivating and open with his audience, and with everything going on in the world, knowing that there are people like Benjamin Francis Leftwich out there making beautiful music and playing his wonderful shows, it’s kind of like the hug we all need.

Catch BFL in Edmonton Feb. 11 at Needle Vinyl Tavern, in Regina Feb. 12 at Capitol Music Club, and in Winnipeg Feb. 13 at Park Theatre.

By Courtney Heffernan

VANCOUVER — One day after the release of New World Alphabet, Ashley Buchholz of USS (Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker) feels so buoyant he’s at risk of floating away.

“I’ve been having to wear steel-toed shoes to make sure that I stay on the ground,” says Buchholz. “I’m in quite an ethereal [state]. This is the byproduct of catharsis, this lightness.”

Even though New World Alphabet is USS’s fifth album, the excitement Buchholz feels differs from their previous releases. His excitement is a testament to the work he and his bandmate Jason Parsons put into New World Alphabet. Now that the album is complete, Buchholz describes his emotions with metaphors of air and water. His predominant feeling is awe: “Now life is just floating.”

New World Alphabet represents a creative turning point for the Toronto-based duo. The album’s sound is the fusion of two-step, acoustic rock, and hip hop that is USS’s signature. The theme is a departure from the predominantly inward focus of their previous albums (the self-destructive mentality on their 2014 single “This Is The Best” comes to mind). Instead, the focus on New World Alphabet is external, with a goal of fostering connection. “Who’s With Me” is USS’s anthem for togetherness.

Conceptually, New World Alphabet begins after one resolves to make a change. Buchholz says, “[The album] boils down to the statement that precludes any great, true change in one’s life: ‘I’ve had enough’… All of a sudden you start acting differently, and you start talking differently, and you start being around different people and your life starts to change.” From there, says Buchholz, one starts to use language differently to communicate a changed perspective. This new language is a new world alphabet.

The shift from an inward to outward focus is indicative of Buchholz’s changed mindset. In USS’s 2008 single “Hollow Point Sniper Hyperbole,” Buchholz needs someone to save him from his sinking ship. Almost ten years later, he wants to act like a lighthouse for those who are feeling isolated by their depression and anxiety. “I want to be a lighthouse instead of lost at sea,” he says. “I’m tired of being the one who’s lost at sea.”

Buchholz is a self-professed introvert who, for a time, isolated himself because he felt uncomfortable around other people. Eventually he realized, “We get so sick when it’s just about us.” He made a decision to change his mindset and in so doing, he felt an energy that became the catalyst for his desire to connect. He says, “There’s this point in the process when it stops being so much about you… [It changes] to ‘How can I make you feel better? How can I help you?’ This whole album is informed by that momentum.”

A few dates into a Canadian tour that will take them across the country, Buchholz already knows what he hopes USS will accomplish in their performances: he wants to foster the maximum connection. For Buchholz and Parsons, the tour is an “opportunity to be able to connect with people.” When he performs, whether he is playing older USS material or songs from New World Alphabet, “I’m singing those songs to people that need that vibration, that comforting vibration.” His hope is that everyone – himself and Parsons included – come away from the show with feelings of togetherness and joy.

USS perform at the Garrick Centre (Winnipeg) on February 1, Palace Theatre f.k.a. Flames Central (Calgary) on February 3, Shaw Conference Centre (Edmonton) on February 4, Pulse Nightclub (Lethbridge) on February 6, Alix Goolden Hall (Victoria) on February 9 and 12 and at the Commodore Ballroom (Vancouver) on February 10.

By Lucas Kitchen

Every last little detail counts for the Arkells.

VANCOUVER — Oh how the times have changed. After winning a couple JUNOs and releasing their fourth studio album, Morning Report, in 2016, the Arkells have embarked on yet another far-reaching tour covering North America and parts of Europe. For lead singer Max Kerman, whether they’re playing a stadium opening for Frank Turner or headlining a sweaty bar in Germany, it’s all the same — you never know who’s watching.

“The one thing I’ve realized is that you’ve gotta take every little detail seriously and really care about every aspect of the show,” Kerman says. “You never know the thing that might move the needle so you’ve got to try your best and hope good luck will find you.”

Good luck certainly has found the multiple JUNO award-winning band. Just this past November the Hamilton, ON-based rockers played what Kerman described as a “bucket list experience” at Massey Hall in Toronto when they played two back-to-back sold out shows.

“We were almost afraid we’d be let down because we built it up in our heads so much, but then it exceeded expectations,” Kerman says.

Playing those larger shows in stadiums or theatres doesn’t allow the Arkells to mingle with the audience post-show as much as they used to, but that connection to their fans is still the most important aspect of the band’s life. VIP experiences, contests and membership in the Arkells Collegiate Vocational Institute have all been part of them giving back to their fans.

“We noticed a lot of people like covering us on acoustic guitar and the golden ticket idea grew from that,” he says.

That “golden ticket idea” being that fans submit videos of them covering the Arkells’ latest single, “My Heart’s Always Yours,” and the winning video would earn that fan a free ticket to any and all Arkells concerts for 2017.

“We still get such a kick out of being a part of someone’s life and that hasn’t changed at all as the band has grown in Canada. When you put yourself out there in the world you never know what you’re going to get back.”

The band released their first single, “Drake’s Dad,” off their most recent album last May, which came as a bit of a pleasant surprise from a band that seemed to be perpetually touring. Just how did such a pavement-pounding group manage to record an album while still travelling the continent? For Kerman it came from their previous recording experience.

“I’ve realized (recording) can be a bit of a dodgy experience when you’ve just got one or two months of time blocked off to be holed up in a studio.”

This led to the group recording the album over several months with a couple stops in LA and Toronto and the help of four different producers. Overall, Morning Report is a solid addition to the Arkells’ catalogue and Kerman feels the same way.

“We really like the job and we wouldn’t force anything if we felt it was shitty, but because we were so jazzed on the songs we thought let’s just get to work. Why do we have to assume that we have to wait another eight months to put out new music? If the whole team is jazzed then let’s fuckin’ do it.”

The Arkells perform at the Thunderbird Sports Centre (Vancouver) on February 1st, the Shaw Conference Centre (Edmonton) on February 3rd, the BMO Centre (Calgary) on February 4th, Prairieland Park (Saskatoon) on February 6th and Centennial Concert Hall (Winnipeg) and February 7th.

]]>http://beatroute.ca/2017/01/23/road-warriors-arkells-focus-attention-details/feed/0Sam Roberts reflects on the power of music in dark dayshttp://beatroute.ca/2017/01/23/sam-roberts-reflects-power-music-dark-days/
http://beatroute.ca/2017/01/23/sam-roberts-reflects-power-music-dark-days/#commentsMon, 23 Jan 2017 18:23:49 +0000http://beatroute.ca/?p=31011

By Paul Rodgers CALGARY — In a song entitled “Uprising Down Under” from Sam Roberts Band’s second record Chemical City,...

By Paul Rodgers

Sam Roberts believes in a great responsibility when it comes to songwriting.Photo: Paul Labonté

CALGARY — In a song entitled “Uprising Down Under” from Sam Roberts Band’s second record Chemical City, the Montreal-born Canadian music staple wrote, “Whoever said you can’t be saved by a song, whoever said that was stringing you along.” In 2016, a year painted with a brush of disdain by the vast majority of the population, the multiple JUNO award-winning group released their sixth album TerraForm, and that refrain still rings through as a motto in their mentality towards their songwriting and outlook on their role as musicians.

“It’s been a pretty dark year on all fronts for people and for humanity,” says Roberts. “We have not put our best foot forward, on many fronts this year. And I kind of feel like when you’re a musician and you’re writing music or playing music in the face of that, that you first of all have to realize the significance of what you’re doing and the potential influence that it can wield over people’s lives and take that responsibility to heart, take it seriously.”

The group put out TerraForm after what Roberts described as a period of “frantic hibernation.” The year began for the group as a “blur” as they were locked into the songwriting process.

“You don’t get a chance to make a record, even every year, so there’s always such a weight, a significance put on it by ourselves, because you have a chance to do something meaningful.”

Beyond creating something of meaning for themselves as individuals and band mates, the group’s hope is that their music can reach people on a meaningful level. Whether if be through their live performances or the records they release, they strive to pour themselves into their music in order to give people something they can carry with them or as Roberts puts it, “So that they can go out there and deal with this heap of shit that’s thrown at them all the time from all sides, and then actually have some kind of will and desire to do something about it.”

Hopefulness is always a fundamental component of Robert’s songwriting, and is a cornerstone of the new album; the ability to realize that despite feelings of brokenness or bleakness that can abound in troubled times, there is a power within us to begin anew.

“If you are an optimistic person, if you are a hopeful person, you will find light at the end of the tunnel,” says Roberts, “but that doesn’t mean that you don’t hold a mirror up to the darkness as well, and I think that to me has always been the challenge. It’s not just singing about the cheerful solution to everything, it’s been about trying to at least show that there’s something that needs to be fixed, something that’s not necessarily broken but has cracks and the seeds of its own destruction there for all to see. It’s how do you go about addressing that? And how do you go about dragging it back to the light? And that, to me, is the true challenge of writing a meaningful song.”

When asked about the line from “Uprising Down Under” and if it still rings true today for the group, Roberts responded, “I think we sort of live by that motto in a way, and I think for our own sanity and our own sense of survival we believe in that wholly, and we trust that other people, if they don’t believe it already, come to see the truth in that some way.”

So while 2016 was indeed rife with darkness and times of despair, it’s important to reflect upon the simple, but profound power of music to inspire hope and light within a listener, and it is something that the Sam Roberts Band will continue to integrate into their music in years to come.

Sam Roberts Band plays Burton Cummings Theatre in Winnipeg on January 31st, O’Brian’s Event Centre in Saskatoon on February 1st, Grey Eagle Event Centre in Calgary on February 3rd, Kelowna’s Community Theatre on February 5th and The Orpheum in Vancouver on February 7th.

By Julijana Capone

Big Fun Festival will help light up Winnipeg’s January deep freeze from January 25-29, 2017. Among this year’s line-up: Julie Doiron & the Wrong Guys (pictured).Photo: Courtesy of Big Fun Festival

CALGARY — Big Fun Festival has been lighting up Winnipeg’s god-forsaken January deep freeze for six years running; shaking up the winter blahs, and stoking the city’s musically inclined with piles of live shows in an otherwise dead month for festivals.

The five-day independent music festival is back from January 25-29, 2017, and organizers have, yet again, pulled together a lineup of over 40 acts from all corners of Canada, including some of the best from the Heart of the Continent.

Among this year’s roster are Julie Doiron & the Wrong Guys (Doiron’s band with Eamon McGrath and members of Cancer Bats), Albertans Marlaena Moore and Wares, and ever-evolving Saskatoon indie-rock-cum-shoegaze unit Slow Down Molasses, along with Winnipeg fixtures and up-and-comers Figure Walking (the renamed duo of Greg MacPherson and Rob Gardiner), Mahogany Frog, Mise en Scene, Tunic, and much, much more.

Since its inception, Big Fun has played an important role in supporting and nurturing the local Winnipeg music community and its emerging artists by booking bands early in their careers and continuing to showcase them. “There’s been a few bands that we’ve seen kind of grow up with Big Fun over the years—Micah Visser being one, Yes We Mystic being another,” says Big Fun organizer Lauren Swan. “It’s really exciting to see where these bands can go.”

In addition to the performances, Big Fun, in partnership with Manitoba Music, will host a Safer Spaces Panel with members of the Manitoba music community.

As Swan mentions, the festival has ramped up its Safer Spaces planning this year by offering additional training for staff and volunteers, and having designated Safer Spaces personnel at each venue, along with a detailed zero tolerance policy that can be read in full on their website. “It’s really important to all of us at the festival that everyone feels welcome and safe,” she says.

With the event’s sixth edition on the horizon, we asked Swan to help select some of the shows to see in 2017.

“We kick off the festival every year in this beautiful ballroom in a mansion,” says Swan. And one could not choose a more perfect setting for inimitable sonic weaver Hannah Epperson. The silken voiced violinist and loop pedal experimenter will play alongside the similarly enchanting Tansy (formerly known as astre).

As exemplified on 2016 two-track 7-inch Missed the Point b/w Beach Date, folk punk Cassia J. Hardy (the brainchild behind Wares) can shout over a shotgun blast of noisy rock or softly coo atop a sparsely arranged ballad with effortless ease. All raw emotion and unapologetic self-expression, Wares is another act on Swan’s personal list of must-sees.

Pip Skid with 3PEAT and The O.B.Friday, January 27 at the Sherbrook Inn

Photo: Courtesy of Big Fun Festival

On the heels of his latest release, Poppy Cock, with Rob Crooks, gravel-voiced Winnipeg rapper Pip Skid makes his highly anticipated return to the festival since 2013. Known for his unhinged live shows, prepare for a visceral night of getting loose.

Also performing are 3PEAT and The O.B. (a.k.a. Osani Balkaran), an emerging 17-year-old rapper. “He came up through Studio 393,” says Swan. “It’s this program connected to the Graffiti Gallery where kids can go and get mentors. They learn to rap or create beats or breakdance…The O.B. is super talented. I‘m excited for that one, because he’s going to be performing with his mentor Pip Skid.”

Disco Needs a Squeeze Showcase with Triage, Genex, WHIP and CraterfaceFriday, January 27 at The Handsome Daughter

Photo: Courtesy of Big Fun Festival.

Big Fun will also partner with the newly launched Winnipeg hardcore festival, Disco Needs a Squeeze, for a showcase of prairie punk alongside lone Torontonians, Triage. “I think it’s really important to help support not only local bands but also new festivals,” says Swan.

Tunic with Animal Lover, Viva Non and Permanent MistakeSaturday, January 28 at The Handsome Daughter

A lineup of escalating loudness—and a momentary comedown courtesy of romantic synth-pop project Viva Non—that will build towards an exultant release of screaming and feedback from Winnipeg’s Tunic and Minneapolis’ Animal Lover. It’s a rollercoaster of a bill that’s worth checking out.

Saskatoon doom-wop sister combo The Garrys (so named after their dad Garry, BTW) make their Big Fun debut at the warming-hut-turned-pop-up-music venue Raw: Almond. And their hazy, surf-y little ditties soaked in reverb should hit the right notes on the river trail. “I’ve been really into them,” says Swan. “That’s gonna be an awesome show.”

Big Fun Festival runs January 25-29, 2017 in Winnipeg. For a full list of performers, schedule times and ticket info, visit bigfunfestival.com

By Julijana Capone

Living Hour among Big Fun’s stacked 2017 lineup.Photo: Courtesy of Living Hour

CALGARY — “We kind of can’t stop writing sad songs,” says Sam Sarty, the angelic lead vocalist of Winnipeg dream-pop unit Living Hour, also one of the acts set to perform at the 2017 edition of Big Fun Festival.

Last year, the band played an unforgettable pop-up show in a warming hut on the frozen river at The Forks. They’re slated to take the show indoors this year for an evening set at the West End Cultural Centre during the week’s festivities.

“Big Fun is something to look forward to in January,” says Sarty. “There’s such a concentration of shows, and it just brings everyone together in a more special way.”

Setting their sights even further afield after its release, the fivesome spent part of the last 12 months touring the record through the U.S. and Europe. And, in the time between jaunts, they’ve already begun plugging away at a follow-up, with a new member being added to the fold.

Mischa Decter (Surprise Party) replaced David Schellenberg on bass last fall, while core members Sarty, guitarists Gil Carroll and Adam Soloway, and drummer Alex Chochinov continue to round out the group.

With the new lineup in place, a winter tour is in the works, and some fresh sounds have been surfacing. Though it’s probably still too early in the writing phase to know which direction the group will go in, Sarty says they’ve been exploring other tunes that could make their way onto the finished product.

“All of us have been going through a twee-pop bedroom phase… is that even a genre?” she asks with a laugh.

Living Hour perform at The Northern on January 19 (Fernie), The Gateway on January 20 (Calgary), Sewing Machine Factory on January 21 (Edmonton), Bo’s on January 22 (Red Deer), and the West End Cultural Centre on January 27 as part of Big Fun Festival (Winnipeg). For more information on Living Hour, head to thelivinghourband.com.

]]>http://beatroute.ca/2017/01/16/living-hour-bring-sad-songs-big-fun/feed/0Plants and Animals take the time to get it righthttp://beatroute.ca/2016/12/06/plants-and-animals-take-time-get-right/
http://beatroute.ca/2016/12/06/plants-and-animals-take-time-get-right/#respondTue, 06 Dec 2016 22:26:12 +0000http://beatroute.ca/?p=30308

By Savannah Leigh Wellman VANCOUVER — Plants and Animals emerged from the Montreal scene at the height of its indie...

By Savannah Leigh Wellman

After a well-deserved break, Plants and Animals are back with, perhaps, their most creatively fulfilling record yet.

VANCOUVER — Plants and Animals emerged from the Montreal scene at the height of its indie band frenzy – the success of bands like Arcade Fire was shining an international spotlight on the culture-rich bilingual city, and at the time you’d be hard-pressed to find a hip 20-something that wasn’t in a band. But this three-piece was no passing trend – the release of their first full length album Parc Avenue earned them both Polaris and JUNO award nominations in 2008. 2010 saw the release of the raucous La La Land, followed by the slightly mellowed out The End of That in 2012, cumulating in over six years of constant hustle (write, record, tour, repeat). When the cycle wound down, they all agreed it was time to take a breather. “We had a cumulative burnout,” says drummer Matthew “Woody” Woodley. “We needed to slow down to let our creative juices flow. We needed to play with other people, and have the luxury of time for reflection on the songs we were working on. We all had kids in the time we were off, so being able to be more domestic was welcomed, we were all into it.”

Giving themselves the freedom to create unhinged by a tight deadline allowed the group to really let creative ideas foster, something they hadn’t been able to do since their first album. “We wrote in the studio, which sometimes seemed backwards, building music off of one little moment or idea, as opposed to going in with a song already finished. Sometimes the best stuff is the most intuitive stuff, and not necessarily the most fleshed out and laboured over.”

This kind of improvised approach was even applied to lyrics at times, where singer Warren Spicer would fill in unwritten lines with gibberish or random thoughts, that would sometimes stick and inspire the rest of the words. The result at times feels mystical – lush cinematic landscapes that bring a sense of nostalgia, not in that they sound familiar, but that they bring an unnamed emotion almost out from behind a memory, one you want to feel again but you’re not sure why, or exactly where it came from. It’s a beautiful collection of carefully crafted musical ideas, that still maintains the loose experimental feel band is known for.

While the creative process might have harkened back to their original days as a band, the influences didn’t. “I think for a long time a lot our influences were from the golden era of rock ‘n roll, and we drained whatever was in that well for us. It came up consciously a bunch of times, let’s not make an album that sounds like the ‘70s, let’s make something that sounds contemporary. We started getting inspired by other things, and listening to a lot more contemporary music.”

Woodley lists some hip-hop references, and while they may not be directly audible influences in the music itself, it’s the production and the experimentation with sounds that the band was interested in. And they’re happy with the results – for the first time in a while, it turns out. “We all really like this record, more than the past two. In hindsight when we talk about them, there’s some good stuff but we’re not completely satisfied. We’re a three-headed beast, so we’re trying to keep everybody happy at the same time. You have to make compromises because of that, and sometimes when you look back you think ‘I wish I’d spoken up about that’. Part of the reason we took so long with this record is we wanted to be happy with it – and I still am.”

By Savannah Leigh Wellman

Half Moon Run harvested the warmth of California to power their new record, Sun Leads Me On.Photo: Jennifer McCord

VANCOUVER — Half Moon Run seem to have “it” – call it destiny, luck, or perhaps mojo (the term used by Plants and Animals to describe their soon-to-be tourmates). But with just their first album they accomplished the kind of career landmarks that most indie bands can only dream of. The group’s very formation could be seen as an act of fate, when Connor Molander and Dylan Phillips found singer Devon Portielje via a Craigslist add looking for musicians. From there, their debut album Dark Eyes went gold in Canada, and the band found themselves playing international stages with the likes of Mumford & Sons. But they’re careful not to subscribe to any ideas of grandeur, and even get a little uncomfortable at the idea. “I feel extremely lucky, but when the time comes where you’re reflecting on those things, it’s a dangerous mental territory to get into. Pride comes before the fall – I’m weary of thinking about how great anything is going,” Molander shares from his home in Montreal.

After any successful first album, there is always the looming question – will they be able to follow it up? Expectations from fans and critics can put a lot of pressure on the creative process, but the group decided to turn inwards and use it to their advantage. “Internally is where the most meaningful pressure came from – all we can do is try to do our best, and you can’t bother with what anybody else is going to think about it. And I think that internal pressure is a good thing, it keeps you from getting complacent – even to the extent of conjuring it up when I don’t feel it, because it’s such a great motivator.”

Even with that kind of drive, when it came time to focus on writing their follow up album, the foursome (now joined by Isaac Symonds) found themselves at a bit of a creative stalemate being at home. “We had all this free time in Montreal to write the new record, and we needed to light a fire under our own asses, so we basically just got in the van and tried to make an adventure out of it. We needed a spark, and it worked wonderfully – that’s when we really hit our stride.” The final destination was California, where the band was able to mix work and leisure in a setting that inspired much of the music on the album. Even the title, Sun Leads Me On, is a nod to that journey, chasing the sunset as they drove west. The sunshine seemed to have an effect on the tone of the album too – there are more moments of optimism and pleasure than on the mostly melancholic Dark Eyes. You can almost hear echos of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds era in singer Portielje’s falsetto, or in the opening track “Warmest Regards,” a pleasant reflection featuring acoustic guitars and flutes. But the band hasn’t strayed from the percussive intensity and vocal harmonies that have become their signature sound – they’ve simply built on it, going deeper into the darker depths, and the delicately optimistic ones as well.

Their upcoming Canadian tour takes place in theatres, something Molander is looking forward to. “It allows you more ebb and flow within a set, you can really bring things down to an intimate moment.” The band has some surprises planned for this time out, in Vancouver specifically, to take advantage of the acoustic opportunities theatre venues provide. And as the band continues to build a career that has already taught them a heck of a lot about putting on a good show – you can be sure there will be some magic.

By Julijana Capone

CALGARY — As the frontwoman of Imaginary Cities, Marti Sarbit’s old soul and raw vocal power brought a ‘60s Motown vibe to main songwriter Rusty Matyas’ effortless pop-rock songcraft. Now the singer is stepping out with a handful of new recordings under the moniker Lanikai, so named after a Hawaiian beach, and an EP out now on Hidden Pony.

With Sarbit fronting a new quintet and taking the role of lead songwriter for the first time ever, it’s been a nervy, but rewarding experience. “It’s scary and amazing,” she says. “It’s probably the biggest challenge I’ve ever had—in terms of music—and it’s proving to be worth it. It feels really good to write songs and have some control over the overall vision.”

The five songs on the EP were written at different times, drawing on the good and the bad of humanity. “I’m Glad,” for example, was inspired by an altercation that Sarbit witnessed while on the bus, which escalated into violence. Despite its negative undertones, the song resulted in one of the most hopeful tracks on the EP, thanks to a musical pick-me-up from her pals.

“Rusty (Matyas) sent me this voicemail of our friend Grant Davidson from Slow Leaves playing a new song of his, called ‘Love, Honesty and Kindness,’ and it was just so beautiful and uplifting,” says Sarbit. “It was exactly what I needed, and I ended up switching the feel of the song around.”

Matyas and Sarbit continue to work as creative collaborators. Matyas produced “I’m Glad,” while Thomas D’Arcy (The Carnations, Small Sins) produced the EP’s remaining four tracks, and also added some crooning to the slow and moody “Stay A Little Longer.”

The new EP also features contributions from members of The Stills, The Sheepdogs and Sloan. And while Lanikai’s configuration has been changing over the years, Sarbit hopes to keep the five-piece as is with members Tim Iskierski (drums), Zach Katz (guitar), Julian Beutel (keys, trumpet), and Natalie Bohrn (also of Slow Spirit) on bass.

“I love the idea of having permanent members that just grow together,” says Sarbit. “It’s hard with everyone being in different bands, but that’s the goal.”

“I want to get back on the road,” she continues. “I’ve been craving it, and I feel like it’s just time to get back into it. I feel really good about where things are at.”

Lanikai perform on December 9 at the Good Will Social Club in Winnipeg as part of their official EP release party. To purchase Lanikai’s debut EP, head to thisislanikai.com.

By Robyn Welsh

The Paper Kites make a natural shift ahead of their return to Western Canada.

CALGARY — It’s been suggested that nothing good ever happens after midnight, but Australian indie outfit The Paper Kites buck this trend with Twelvefour. The band’s latest album was written primarily during the witching hour between midnight and four in the morning. This, in retrospect, allowed the band to step into a place where all guards were down, and any reticence to experiment had all but vanished. “The songwriting felt different – it felt like someone else had written it because in a way he was someone else in those hours when [Sam Bentley] was so tired and kinda living this nocturnal life for a couple of months,” Basisst/vocalist Sam Rasmussen told BeatRoute.

While the band often sticks to traditional Western instrumentation like guitar, bass, keyboard, drums and synthesizers, this new release finds them experimenting with new ways of producing sound. On Twelvefour cut “Turns Within Me, Turns Without Me,” the clinking sound that in the outro comes from recorded a ball of keys being thrown up in the air and caught. And while an interesting and fun experience, Sam Rasmussen cut his hands in the process.

In Twelvefour, the Australian indie-folk ensemble has plugged into the sounds of the ‘80s and has continued a slow progression from quiet-core acoustic minimalism towards a restrained rock format with quicker rhythms and more prominent drums.

“We never sat down and thought ‘we wanna get louder’ or ‘we want a bigger sound,’ it just sort of happened,” Rasmussen tells us. “I guess you could say that over the years our taste and influences have shifted, and as a result, especially as we have toured so much, we have just found that we like playing bigger sounds live and that is kind of what inspires us.”

This tour marks one of the band’s biggest, and finds in new and unfamiliar geography, they are also at their most comfortable; with each other, on stage, and on the bus. Notably, they have seen that fans are responding to their more natural rapport, in turn becoming more invested in the performance as The Paper Kites fuse their energy with one another on stage. Some of the band’s most fond memories of Canada have been driving through the Rocky Mountains into Calgary, surging their excitement for the Calgary leg of the tour. “We are certainly looking forward to coming back to Calgary, it will be our fourth time in Calgary I think. I remember being possibly the coldest I’ve ever felt in my life in Calgary, but we love coming over.”

Clearly their fans are feeling the love, too, with encore dates added in both Western Canada leg beginning and ending cities Winnipeg and Vancouver. Despite the cold, The Paper Kites and their fans will be keeping warm together this December.

Catch The Paper Kites in Winnipeg at The Park Theatre on both December 1st and 2nd, in Edmonton at the Starlite Room on December 5th, in Calgary at The Gateway on December 6th, and in Vancouver at the Rio Theatre on December 8th and 9th.

By Safiya Hopfe

With new creative vigor, Hawksley Workman has gone back to the studio to write another record.

VANCOUVER — Hawksley Workman is writing a new record, “Which kind of happened by accident,” he says, “but it always does, you know?” Since releasing his first album in 1999, this beacon of idiosyncrasy in Canadian music perseveres — and explains his reasoning for doing so as a “feeling of constant dissatisfaction.”

Though he credits recent project Mounties with awakening special creative vigour in him, Workman is happy to be revisiting old habits since the studio-driven tendencies of Old Cheetah. “They [Mounties] re-wrote a lot of the rules in my mind,” he explains, “’cause so much of Mounties is improvised. So I became obsessed with improvising songs, which is to say my last record Old Cheetah has a lot of, like, improvised lyrics, and the whole thing was very guttural.” Now he returns to “old formulas”— embracing the almost lustful pen-to-paper process that produced the first couple of records he ever made. “It feels childlike. It reminds me of who I was 20 years ago.”

This isn’t to say experimenting with possibilities in production no longer feels important to Workman— working hands-on in the studio with Mounties marked a turning point in a hard time. “Mounties saved my fucking life. I was at a point where, at an age where anyone is asking themselves whether the prolonged humiliation of being in the music business is really still worth it. Then I get into a studio with these guys in East Vancouver, and we’re staying up ‘til the goddamn middle of the night jamming and having a fucking blast. I think with Mounties I was reminded about the childlike love you can have for music when things are feeling absolutely perfect, you know? And I’m so, so blessed that that happened.”

The love affair of sorts isn’t anywhere near over – Workman, Steve Bays, and Ryan Dahle have their eyes on a second Mounties record, though they’re not entirely sure what to expect yet, even from themselves. In Workman’s words: “There’s all those feelings that come with a second record. No one was expecting ‘Headphones’ and ‘Tokyo Summer’ to be hit songs, we were just goofs having fun and all of a sudden we were goofs having fun with hit songs. Then all of a sudden there’s just a new kind of pressure that comes with that. But you know, it’s an interesting thing, I think as you get older, for me at least, creativity is a grumpy old cat that you really have to pet certain ways. And I think I’m only just starting to understand that. My creative energy … it doesn’t belong to me, it’s something I get to slow-dance with from time to time but we definitely don’t go home together!”

Both in and out of the studio, and with and without Mounties, becoming grounded has grown to be a common theme. In being brought back down to earth, Workman has learned that patience isn’t his strong suit. Working with wood helps, he says, but most importantly, that strangeness is a virtue. His online biography deems him unafraid “to be strange,” which for him seems simply to mean honouring himself as an artist. “I would say that if you’re not obsessed with conforming to culture’s current regime of rules … that’s pretty strange. I think it’s a time when going your own way seems like a massive risk to people. So, I think if there’s any meaning in that at all, it’s that I’ve tried to play this silly game by my own rules, even when I keep getting put in the penalty box for it.”

Hawksley Workman performs at the West End Cultural Centre (Winnipeg) on December 5, at St. James Hall (Vancouver) on December 7 and at Citadel Centre (Edmonton) December 8-11.

]]>http://beatroute.ca/2016/11/28/can-con-hero-hawksley-workman-never-satisfied/feed/0JD and the Sunshine Band make music from the marginshttp://beatroute.ca/2016/11/28/jd-sunshine-band-make-music-margins/
http://beatroute.ca/2016/11/28/jd-sunshine-band-make-music-margins/#respondMon, 28 Nov 2016 17:51:04 +0000http://beatroute.ca/?p=30113

By Julijana Capone CALGARY — Bleary-eyed country jams with psychedelic diversions and humourous narratives drawn from the streets of Winnipeg...

By Julijana Capone

JD and the Sunshine Band spread their sunny vibrations with sophomore album, Soaking Up the Rays.Photo: Chris Friesen

CALGARY — Bleary-eyed country jams with psychedelic diversions and humourous narratives drawn from the streets of Winnipeg are the bedrock of JD and the Sunshine Band’s tunes.

But this is no ordinary musical operation. Since its inception, the band has also played an important role in bringing a community of marginalized people in from the fringes.

In 2013, the band formed as part of the Solvent User’s Recreation Project (SURP) at Sunshine House, a drop-in and resource centre that focuses on “harm reduction, population health promotion, and social inclusion,” according to its website. Some of the people it assists are “street-involved,” homeless or insecurely housed, and some are affected by HIV and/or Hepatitis C.

Program coordinator JD Ormond, also a Winnipeg singer-songwriter and the band’s namesake, built the program as a means to connect participants with practical skills and improve their quality of life.

“A lot of the members were people on the streets, who were affected by or using solvents,” he says. “We opened our doors and catered to accommodate all of the interests of people on the street…the intention was also to build skills; rebuild motor skills that may have been lost from solvent use; and to connect people with the broader community and social supports.”

One of the program’s first music-based workshops revolved around writing and recording a song, called “Saturday Night,” a waltzy country song detailing a booze-fuelled night on the town.

“It was free of judgment and hugely successful in bringing people in from the margins,” Ormond says. “There were a lot of things that we were proud of, so we thought why not do something exclusively based around music?”

And so the band went on meeting several times a week to rehearse, which then led to the release of their self-titled debut record in 2014, followed by a flurry of live gigs. The band has since played everywhere from soup kitchens and missions to well-known Winnipeg music venues and major festivals, such as Interstellar Rodeo, playing alongside artists like Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle.

Now JD and the Sunshine Band can add a second album to their list of accomplishments with the release of Soaking Up the Rays, out last month via Transistor 66.

The Sunshine Band boasts upwards of 12 members at any given time, including a crew of percussionists, called The Shiners, who play shakers made out of old syrup containers, and provide the backbeat of the group.

“It’s been a blast,” says band member Adrian Spence, who shares drumming duties with his brother, Gilbert, and also sings lead vocals on the album’s classic country numbers, such as the George Jones cover “The King is Gone,” while Ormond takes the lead on tracks like the twangy, psych-inflected toe-tapper “Brain Freeze.”

Spence says he’s seen how the program has made a difference in the lives of its members. “The Sunshine Band cut down a lot on their solvent abuse,” he says. “That’s important for me. I don’t do that. They cut down a lot, so I’m happy for that.”

“The music’s important to me, eh,” Spence continues. “That’s all I have left is playing and singing…I know all these people coming around. We see them on the street. We have no problems. I know what they do out on the street with that solvent stuff. I’m right there amongst them. No problem.”

Indeed, it’s the support and acceptance that the house nurtures that’s made it such a haven. Sunshine House’s harm reduction approach means that people can come as they are without judgment, even if they’re still using.

“We have a no-using policy in the house, but we have no control over what people do on the streets,” Ormond says. “We don’t turn people away if they’re high…other places around town will smell that you’ve been using and tell you that you can’t come in. We won’t…we are not out to fix anyone. We are just there to give people options and outlets.”

The fact that, nearly four years later, the band still exists is indicative of the program’s success. And, with the band’s skills and comfort levels developing, doing a prairie jaunt beyond the Perimeter Highway isn’t out of the question. Given the right amount of care, JD and the Sunshine Band could bring their positive rays westward one day.

“The ability to be mobile and to travel; to leave the city limits or to even leave the limits of their own neighbourhood is not something that these folks are used to doing,” says Ormond. “It would be huge for the people in the band to experience what it’s like to travel.”

Check out JD and the Sunshine Band’s sophomore album, Soaking Up the Rays, out now via transistor66.com. All proceeds from the sale of each album go to support programs at Sunshine House. You can also head to the Sunshine House website to make a donation directly at sunshinehousewpg.org.

By James Olson

Photo: Sandra Layden, retrieved from Protest the Hero Facebook page

VANCOUVER — Never ones to rest on their laurels, Toronto’s Protest the Hero sought to take on a new distribution approach with the release of their latest EP, Pacific Myth. Released over a 12-month span to paying subscribers via Bandcamp, vocalist Rody Walker cites the NOFX “7-Inch of the Month” vinyl club as the primary influence for the prog-rockers to experiment with sharing music with their fans. Walker describes the process as a fun experiment that allowed the band to push themselves to write music in a more streamlined fashion. More generally, Walker encourages experimentation when it comes to different distribution methods. “I think everyone should be attempting to experiment and I don’t know necessarily if you need to innovate but why not?” Walker says. “The industry has been the way that it was for so long that it needed something to shake it up. Crowdfunding and other things like it came in and really shook it up. There’s no reason not to push it further.”

Pacific Myth also signalled a sea change in the writing process within the band as drummer Mike Ieradi recorded in the studio with Protest for the first time. “Mike had a lot more input [in the songwriting],” Walker reports. “He constantly writes music on GuitarPro and he just sends it out. So we wound up using a lot of his guitar stuff which is hilarious because he’s a drummer. I think things really changed up for the other guys in the band.”

Last year Protest celebrated the ten-year anniversary of the release of their debut album Kezia with an accompanying tour in which they performed the record in its entirety with the original lineup on stage. Walker provides a particularly wry perspective on the longevity of the band in reference to that tour. “What I think was most interesting about those Kezia shows was meeting a lot of people coming out that were our age and had listened to the record a long time ago,” Walker observes. “And then there were these kids with a ghost of a moustache on their face going ‘Oh yeah I used to love Kezia back in the day.’ What? You loved that when you were like two? You’re 12 years old right now, what the fuck are you talking about? If we keep going here there are going to be kids coming to shows that weren’t alive when Kezia came out. That’s a little terrifying to me but also kinda funny to me.”

After 2016 mercifully concludes, Protest join August Burns Red on their own anniversary tour before setting their sights on Australia to escape the dreaded Canadian winter. Protest the Hero aim to keep forging their own path.

Protest the Hero play Vogue Theatre in Vancouver on December 8th (with A Wilhelm Scream), Starlite Room in Edmonton on December 10th, Marquee Beer Market & Stage in Calgary on December 11th, Louis’ in Saskatoon on December 12th, and Garrick Centre in Winnipeg on December 14th.

By Shane Flug

CALGARY — For those who are familiar with how we make our posts on BeatRoute.ca, we enhance the user experience by embedding relevant songs and/or videos of artists that we cover for readers to enjoy.

But now, providing you this extra service has unlocked us an opportunity to earn a little extra revenue that can help us pay the monthly hosting costs (if not beyond).

Earlier this month, Apple reached out to us with an invitation to join their Apple Music Affiliate Program. We happily accepted.

How this works is that when we link to or embed artists’ music (or other content like movies or iBooks) on our site’s posts, your purchases of iTunes content from those links also earn us a commission. These are what the digital marketing world call affiliate links.

So in the future, if an artist we cover is on Apple Music/iTunes, we disclose that hyperlinks and embeds from the service that you see in our posts will be affiliate links going forward, same goes for any future Apple Music banner ads you may see on the site, as well.

Joining this program also does not mean that every album review, or any other kind of coverage taking a critical angle, that we write will suddenly be a fawning one: BeatRoute.ca will provide affiliate links/embeds to all artists on the service that we review, even when a contributor doesn’t share a favourable take.

We’re enthusiastic about this new revenue opportunity, but we’re also realistic: we’d be kidding ourselves to think that joining the affiliate marketing world is suddenly going to make this indie regional monthly rich, however, with today’s challenges of digital banner ad sells not even coming close to making up for the losses of print ad revenue, we must—to be frank—be open to tapping into additional revenue sources for our long-term survival.

So as you do your holiday music shopping this winter, or if Santa got you a new iPad, your purchases on Apple Music/iTunes from our site’s affiliate links will also serve as a Christmas present to us as well.

By Jennie Orton

July Talk’s Peter Driemanis believes the band has captured the frantic energy of their live show on their new record.Photo: Shalan and Paul

VANCOUVER — Peter Dreimanis’s voice rolls over the confessional lyrics in “Touch,” the thundering closing track on July Talk’s sophomore album of the same name. Like thick tires rumbling over the loose gravel, his Tom Waits’y growl is enveloped by crescendos of backing vocals and ominous piano, as the thud of a human heartbeat shoves itself past the Snapchat feed that is modern life. As July Talk takes their “come together” stage persona to the road with an album that explores themes like connection, longing, and intimacy in the modern age, the band gets a rare opportunity to see the evolution of communication wrangle with the body’s desire for physical catharsis.

“I think the interest on focussing on the human connection, be it of a physical nature or just looking each other eye to eye, presented itself to us because we are worried like everyone else is, that all of these new ways we are being given to connect to each other digitally are really meant to bring us closer together but we haven’t quite figured out how to do that for real yet,” Dreimanis posits.

July Talk seems to have set out to show the palpable and important new world emerging between the old and new definitions of connection. Touch is a reflective, sometimes sexy sometimes sad, look at intimacy in the millennial age. The music is pleasing, and close, and seductive, but there is a hunger that never lets go; like a rumbling stomach. This is due in part to the lyrics, which stagger between sultry game playing and fitful declarations of frustrated self-awareness.

The album also owes its palpable viscera to the decision to record the whole thing live. Recorded with producer Ian Davenport, who routinely avoids the use of a click track, July Talk was able to replicate the energy of their storied live show on the album.

“It was all about capturing the moment,” says Dreimanis. “We wanted to hear the humanity in it.”

The band has a well earned reputation for talking with fans after the show and it is this bridging of that gap that July Talk has always found to be cathartic and beneficial.

“I think there was a vibe in every room that we played that felt a little culty. It was a group of people who were in on this little thing that was bigger than the five of us and just sort of happened,” he admits. “There has been an immense feeling of connection in the room.”

So as the band crawls along the highways of North America, spitting whiskey into the crowd and then hugging the people it hit when the lights go up, they become innately aware of the fine line between a digitally curated self and a sweaty moment between hot bodies.

“There is something really weird about that, like for example when you are having your Thanksgiving dinner in a van at 7 p.m. and all of your families are tucking their babies in after having a big turkey dinner back home,” says singer Leah Fay. “But there is also something really special about having an insight and seeing the world through those really brief moments of human connection with people in a breakfast room at a Quality Inn.”

So when Dreimanis and Fay sing, “We get so tired and lonely, we need a human touch. Don’t wanna give ourselves away too much,” during the aforementioned “Touch,” you can hear that disconnected comfort we all share within the iOS, and our secret desire to stage dive into the arms of a crowd just like us.

“The shame within it is the elements with ourselves that we are ashamed of or embarrassed by are usually the most interesting and intriguing parts of ourselves,” he muses. “A lot of what neglects to be shown ends up being the stuff that is going to make the person who is gonna fall in love with you fall in love with you.”

By Cole Parker

James Vincent McMorrow fights “diminishing returns” with help from OVO collaborators.Photo: Sarah Doyle

CALGARY — James Vincent McMorrow is an artist whose career has been defined by changes to his sound. His 2010 debut Early in the Morning was almost entirely made up of soft acoustic arrangements, with his guitar playing front and centre. Next came 2014’s Post Tropical, a notable departure away from his indie-folk sounds to lush soundscapes of dreamy reverb and cathartically melancholic arrangements. It was a conscious decision McMorrow made towards becoming the artist he wanted to be. Now in 2016, We Move, his first number one album in his home country of Ireland, is another missing link for the ever-evolving artist.

Gone are the building crescendos, the choral-like background vocals and the wistful nature. Instead on We Move, he opts for a funkier, more R&B-tinged sound with a return of some more tasteful guitar and hip-hop influenced beats. McMorrow is definitive though in his approach to the different stages of his career. “I feel like evolution is necessary.”

While the move from his debut to his sophomore was purely stylistic, We Move is a shift in the songwriting process as well. It’s led to some of McMorrow’s most immediate and ear-grabbing tracks to date. That change is courtesy of OVO family members Nineteen85 and Frankie Dukes, who have songwriting and production credits on a handful of We Move’s tracklist. This created a much different atmosphere for McMorrow, and it was one he actively sought out. “The goal was to bring in people that could do things that I just can’t do myself and people whose minds I could tap into.” Historically an artist that would take his time alone in the studio, McMorrow’s collaborators forced him to have material ready for their focused gazes.

As with any artist whose sound grows and expands the way McMorrow’s does, he’s lost some fans along the way. “They really want you to stay the same, because they want to enjoy those things (you used to do). The reality is if I were to keep mining those things, it would be the law of diminishing returns. Everything I do would be a lesser thing than the thing I did before.” For McMorrow, who’s constantly looking to hone his craft, you get the impression that stagnation would be unacceptable.

For an artist who is so devoted to his craft, it’s kind of unfortunate that to date the highest he’s reached in terms of mainstream acceptance is a cover version of Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love.” He’s glad it came from an organic place, recorded for a charity album with all proceeds of the single going towards that charity, rather than from some attention-seeking stunt. He’s definitely distanced himself from any kind of ‘cover artist’ title however, with “Higher Love” being the only cover he performs live, simply for its emotional connection. “My mother used to play it all the time growing up.”

The live show will also be a different experience for fans of the singer-songwriter. On his previous trip to Calgary, McMorrow performed an extremely stripped-back acoustic set with no one else onstage at Knox United Church. The intimate atmosphere, stained glass-windows and rows of pews seemed to fit the angelic tones of McMorrow’s Post-Tropical Tour. The fuller sound of We Move however comes with a fuller live show with his band coming to perform at the Jack Singer Concert Hall. A few solo sections are promised for the more subdued selections of McMorrow’s setlist.

James Vincent McMorrow plays the Park Theatre in Winnipeg on November 19th, the Winspear Centre in Edmonton on November 21st, the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary on November 22nd, the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver on November 24th and the Alix Goolden Hall in Victoria on November 25th.